


A Rose's Knight

by Angry_Face



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Dark, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Medium Burn, Post-Season/Series 03, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 14:39:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8060284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angry_Face/pseuds/Angry_Face
Summary: With Ruby and the remaining members of Team JNPR travelling to Mistral to track down their only lead on Cinder Fall, it’s easy to depend on your friends for comfort and warmth in a now cold worldWith a hole in his heart as big as his shield, Ruby sees Jaune falling further and further into a pit of despair that she fears will consume him. She does her best to comfort him and try to help him through these hard times; and being so close to him during this time, she couldn't help but to think her need to help her friend became something more, especially since she’d been having feelings for him for a long time...





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is why I can't have nice things.

It was a month since Ruby and the surviving members of JNPR had left her home in Patch. As winter sprinkled the earth with snow, they sat around a fire on fallen logs of wood, eating the food they had picked up in the last small town they visited; using what little money they had left. Looking up from a dry, cold bun, she saw Ren and Nora staring into the flames of the fire pit across from her. They were sitting next to each other sharing a blanket draped over both of their shoulders.

With a deep sigh, she looked over to the third log next to hers to find it empty of their fourth member, Jaune Arc. Shifting in her seat, she looked around to try and find him, only for Ren to speak up. "He said he was going to use the bathroom," He said in the usual soft tone, "But that was half an hour ago.” Ruby nodded slightly as she set her scraps of food down and stood up, her backside numb from sitting on a hard, frozen surface for so long.

"I'll go find him, it's still dangerous here on the mainland. He should stay near the fire" Ren nodded slightly as Nora reached behind her and grabbed another log to keep the warm flames going. They had made camp inside the large forested area in the middle of Vale, in some forest that no one ever visited anymore. They needed to cross from one side of the continent to the other to get to a airship port that would carry them to Mistral.

With the largest airdock being completely overrun by Grimm, this was their only option that didn't attract Nevermores or Griffons to attack the Airbuses. Instead, they're trekking across the land on foot and fighting every Beowolf and Ursa on their way. Walking away from the fire, the glow from the flames were being overtaken by the light of the shattered moon. As she moved further into the trees, Ruby heard Jaune before she actually saw him sitting on the ground with his back to a trunk of a large tree. Quiet sobs and sniffling were echoing through the night air.

"Jaune?" Ruby gently asked as she peeked around the tree.

Jaune looked up with a start and quickly began to rub the wrist of his glove against his nose and eyes, trying to hide the tears and snot he had been shedding just seconds before. "Oh! Ruby" He stammered out, his voice hoarse. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come up." He cleared his throat and took a couple of deep breaths to get the frog out of his throat.

Ruby looked down at the blond knight softly as he tried to cover up the fact that he had been crying alone again. Silently, Ruby walked around him and wrapped her cloak around her body so she could sit down without snow going up her skirt. She looked over at him gently and saw how much he was hurting from Pyrrha's death. They all hurt from that, but Jaune more than anyone.

He had told them about her final moments with him, how she kissed him, pushed him into the rocket locker, and sent him to safety so she could fight Cinder alone. She had told them that she arrived too late to help; guilt ate at her over that fact and everyone reassured that it wasn't her fault, but that didn't change the fact that she was too slow to help. That she, Ruby Rose, of all people, was too slow to save someone.

She could see his features on the soft silver glow of the moon. He had missed a few trails his tears had taken, making his face shine a little. His blue eyes met her silver and she could see the sorrow in them, tired and bloodshot. They sat there in silence looking at each other for a few moments before Ruby realised what she was doing. Heat rushed to her face and she looked up at the moon to try and avoid embarrassment.

She knew she had a not so small crush on him, who wouldn't? He was tall, handsome and a bit of a goof. But, he was the first friend she made at Beacon since her own sister ditched her as soon as they landed, she blew Weiss up and Blake simply walked off after that scene. She then spent the next hour or so simply walking and talking with him; it was one of her favourite moments from her time at that school. The main reason she didn't share the fact that she liked Jaune like that was because she was only fifteen, pushed ahead two years, and felt like she didn't belong. Plus, he was always trying to ask Weiss out, so that didn't help. Another was that Yang would have either laughed at her face... or killed him. Ruby didn't want to experience either of those options. Lastly was Pyrrha, she couldn't just steal him out from under her like that; what kind of friend would she be if she did? And after all, how could she compete with the Mistrali champion for his affection when she was his partner, and Ruby was just a fifteen year old girl.

"You found a nice place to look up at the moon," Ruby said gently as she stared up at the shattered moon of Remnant. The trees around them thinned out just enough so that they had a clear view of the night sky and to the moon.

She saw Jaune nod and look back up to the moon with her. The two of them were silent for a few more minutes until Jaune broke it with a haggard whisper. "I miss her, Ruby." From the way he spoke, she could tell that he was holding back another wave of tears. "I miss her so much..."

Ruby leaned over slightly so their shoulders were touching, so he knew she was right there. "I know, Jaune. We all do." She spoke softly as she felt his shoulders move up and down in silent sobs. Gently, she reached out and placed her hand on his arm and squeezed. "But you've still got Nora and Ren and me. We'll always be here for you." Jaune nodded as he placed his hand over hers and squeezed back slightly. His bare fingertips touching her skin sent shocks and tingles through her hand, her sorrow leaden heart fluttered slightly, and her breath hitched in her throat. Heat rushed to her face as she looked over and saw Jaune staring into her eyes.

"Thanks, Ruby." He said with a deep, shaky breath to try and calm himself down. "I know, It’s just, hard sometimes." He offered her a gentle, albeit forced smile to try and reassure her. "I'll be okay though, eventually" Ruby nodded and let out a heavy sigh. Just sitting with him, staring out at the moon, filled her with bittersweet joy. She was sitting with the boy she had been crushing on for almost a year, their hands on top of each other in content silence, but at the cost of a friend losing her life.

She would give him all the time in the world, as much as he needed, and she would be always there, waiting with open arms and an open heart for him. Their quiet little moment was ruined when he took his hand off of hers, leaving her feeling a little colder than before as he gently began to get up. "We should get back to the others before they start to worry."

With a nod, Ruby followed his lead and got to her feet, brushing off the snow, frozen dirt, and twigs off her cloak as they made their way back to the orange glow of the fire. Reaching the small camp they made, Nora had her head on Ren's shoulder. Her eyes were closed and her mouth wide open with wheezing snores as a small trail of drool made its way down the corner of her mouth and onto Ren; but if cared, he did not show it.

He simply offered them a small smile as he reached down and tossed a small ration bag at Jaune, his dinner for the night. He caught it with ease and took his seat on the frozen log. Opening the pack, he pulled out the bread disc and gave it an odd look before tapping it on the log he was sitting on, earning a loud frozen tap noise. "Yeah, I think I'll pass on that," He said with a small smile as he began to eat the other, just as unappetising part of the meal; earning a small smile from the red cloaked woman.

The rest of the night passed quietly, with Ren eventually carrying his sleeping partner to their shared tent. Ruby and Jaune both looked at each other and decided that Ruby would take first watch, then Jaune, Nora and Ren finally. The night passed with a restless sleep, the cold stopping anyone from getting any meaningful rest. She heard the soft footsteps of Ren walking around the fire as he began the act of packing up the camp.

With a sigh, Ruby wrapped her cloak around her body and got out of the tent to see the green-clad Lie Ren preparing morning coffee. "Morning," Ren said lightly as he extended a blue tin cup filled with the steaming liquid, Ruby mumbled out a morning greeting as she accepted the warm liquid. She usually took her coffee with cream and sugar, but with nothing like that out here, she had to deal with it. As the warm caffeine hit her system, she noticed a fresh layer of frost covering everything around them, her own breath visible in the cold.

Next to wake up was Jaune, coming out of his tent with a wide yawn and a stretch, earning some very audible pops as his body realigned. He accepted a cup of coffee from Ren as Nora walked back from the tree line, arms filled with enough small wood to make another camp when they reached the end of the day. With a meagre breakfast, they packed up their campsite, stamped out the flames, and continued on their way.

Like every time they travelled down the road, the four of them were silent, still weighed down by the spirit of their friend. They followed the dirt path into a hilly area. It would take maybe another week-and-a-half before reaching the coastal city to get to Mistral if they were following the map correctly. Before she could continue on that thought, the sounds of growling and branches snapping caught everyone's attention.

Quickly looking up the hill, the four of them saw a pack of Beowolves began to cautiously approach them, using the trees to support their weight as they began to spread out to try and surround them. Quickly, weapons were brought out of their holders and packs were thrown to the ground. Nora acted first with a pink grenade being fired from Magnhild into the trees, signalling the beginning of the fight.

The Grimm charged out from their trees and spread out as a pink explosion consumed three of the creatures and several trees in the area. Spreading out, the four of them took on their share of Beowolves. Ruby was secretly pleased with the interruption, something to distract from the depressing silence of walking. Leaping through the trees, she used Crescent Rose to rocket herself into a clump and made quick work of them; taking advantage of her speed to keep herself safe.

Dodging back with each swipe of their claws and charging forward to take advantage of their dropped defence, deftly swinging her weapon, limbs were sliced off and heads were separated from shoulders, filling the air with the oily decaying scent of dissipating Grimm. Looking over, she checked to see if everyone else was doing okay.

Ren was busy leaping through the air and concentrating his aura to block swings as he filled them with Dust infused bullets from Storm Flower, quickly moving from one dying Grimm to the next. When they got too close to him, he would spin his weapons around and slice ribbons off their thick hide as he flipped past them. Ducking under a larger Grimm, he sprinted past it with his

blades, slicing its thighs open and bringing it to its knees.

With a flourishing spin, he sliced open its arm, making it useless to defend from the final blow in the form of Ren shoving the tips of his bladed pistols into its mouth and separating the top half of its head from the bottom. In the same motion, Ren stretched his arms out to the sides and fired into two more Grimm who thought he had left himself wide open.

Past Ren, Nora Valkyrie was swinging her hammer with reckless abandon as she smashed Grimm into trees and the ground. Where Ren was quiet and efficient, Nora was loud and excessive, perfectly matching both their personalities. Ruby watched as she used the momentum from her weapon to carry her through the air. With a loud bang and a louder 'whoop', Nora charged up the hill to meet the nightmare creatures head on.

Another explosion from her hammer sent her into a front flip that brought her hammer down with a heavy slam and crushed a Grimm into a pancake. Black, greasy blood was seeping into the snowy ground as she continued to charge up the hill. Ren also saw the recklessness of his childhood friend and quickly sprinted after her to help out any way he could. Ruby quickly scanned the snowy hillside for the blond knight, only to see him get knocked to the ground by an Ursa that wasn't part of the pack before.

Ruby quickly swung her weapon over so it was pointed behind her; she fired off a round to jump start her semblance and rushed to Jaune's aid. He was being pinned down by the weight of the beast on his shield. It roared out a terrifying howl as its paw reached up to slash across his face. Just as Ruby leapt into the air, a Beowolf came from her blind spot and hit her leg, knocking her into a spin in the air.

She hit the Ursa with full force, knocking it off of Jaune, but its legs got tangled in the straps of Jaune's pack (that he forgot to take off before the battle) and the three of them began to tumble down the hill. Pained cries between the three of them were overwhelmed by the sound of snapping trees and shifting earth. She didn't know how far they tumbled, but in just a few seconds, she was weightless.

Looking around, she saw the hill suddenly end and a drop that ended twenty feet down below them. She saw Crescent Rose flying away from her towards the forest floor, Jaune managed to push his sword into the Ursa's chest as they fell hard to the ground. The fall lasted only a couple of seconds; she was too distracted to scream out as she plummeted to the ground. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she tensed up to take the hit, and felt the wind get knocked out of her lungs. She felt the ground hit her hard. A loud snap of a tree breaking under her echoed through the air as she continued to roll until she skidded to a stop when the hill levelled out finally.

Ruby felt light headed and nauseous from all the spinning and her head colliding with the tree as she landed. With a loud groan, she looked around and saw Jaune under the dissipating Ursa, groaning as he pushed the beast off of him and gently getting to his feet. Ruby went to get up when a shot of pain raced up her leg. Looking down, she saw a horrible sight.

Lodged through her right calf was a large shard of wood, soaked with blood. At the sight of this, the pain crashed into her all at once. Her leg was on fire. Pain blossomed through her chest as she tried to breathe. She gripped her leg with her hands and let out a terrible, painful scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading a lot of Jaune/Ruby stories here and I couldn't get my own idea out of my head.
> 
> So here we are, with another story on an already filled plate. I'm terrible. I just hope I can balance all of my stories without losing substance.
> 
> A big thanks to StreetAngelJ For proofreading and editing of this chapter!
> 
> And with that, if you liked it, please leave a kudo or a comment saying you liked it, they always make me smile. Any feedback is welcome and thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my stories.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know...

_Stupid Jaune! Why didn't you take your pack off!_ Jaune yelled at himself inside his head. If he had taken his pack off then the Ursa wouldn't have gotten tangled up and he wouldn't have been dragged down the hill and into this ravine. Using all of his strength, he managed to push the dissipating weight off of his body and slowly got to his feet with a groan. He quickly checked himself and found none of his arms or legs was seriously damaged aside from a few scrapes that were already healing. Taking a deep breath, he didn't feel any broken ribs poking his lungs, bonus.

Looking over, he saw that his pack had opened up mid-flight and all of his things were scattered against the rocks and tiny streams of water running through them. The rations would be okay, but his few issues of X-Ray and Vav that he managed to find room for were ruined. A few bits of clothing need to be washed and his tent was in pieces. With a sigh, he went to start collecting what he could when he heard a bone chilling scream.

Whipping around, he saw Ruby sitting with her hands on her leg. Running towards her, his things forgotten, he knelt down next to her as she let out a desperate cry. Looking to where her silver eyes were staring, his gut dropped when he saw a large piece of wood sticking out of her leg. "Oh shit!" He heard himself say, her blood staining her tights and spilling onto the rocks below. She gave another cry and he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You're okay..." He didn't believe that himself, but that's what people say when they're trying to help, right? He placed his hand on her leg and began to examine the wound; the large shard was poking through the other side just a bit, it was bad. Gulping down a dry mouth, he looked at her and nodded lightly. "Okay...I'm going to pull it out." She gave a quick nod as she gripped her leg. Jaune wrapped his fingers around the wood and he put a little bit of pressure on it when she cried out again.

Pulling his hand away quickly, he shook his head. "Okay! Okay, it's staying," he said quickly as he looked around. With a panicked noise, he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. "Stay calm, I'll grab the first aid pack and then we'll get out of this cold," he said as he waited for her to nod and quickly ran to collect what he could from his ruined pack. Grabbing the blanket, the first- aid kit, as well as his ration packs, he rushed back to Ruby and began to wrap bandages around her leg.

Securing the shard so it could not move while they moved, he was glad he actually learned something from his short time at Beacon that was useful. Team leaders and one other member of their team were required to take emergency first aid; it was simply an elective for rest. Once the wood shard was secure, he quickly ran and gathered up the last of what he could salvage and then collected Crescent Rose. After she quickly collapsed it, he placed it in his pack to carry as he helped her move.

"Hold on," he said simply as he leaned down and slipped his arm under her legs and behind her back, hoisting her up bridal style. Ruby let out a surprised gasp as she clutched onto Jaune's breastplate and pulled herself closer to him. Jaune noticed a blush form as she tried to hide her face under the hood of her cloak. With her heavy weapon in his pack and her in his arms, he began to carry her out of the riverbed and back into the forested area.

"Thanks, Jaune," she said gently as she wrapped her cloak around herself and leaned against his chest.

"It’s fine." Jaune began as he continued to carry her (she was fairly light so it wasn't so bad) "I mean, it's kinda my fault you got dragged down here in the first place." As he stepped over a large root she hissed in pain as the shard rubbed against her other leg. He simply said "Sorry," as he slowed down his walking pace enough so that she wouldn't get hurt.

After about an hour of being carried by Jaune, the small woman in his arms simply nodded and looked around furtively. "Do you even know where you're going?" Ruby asked as she looked around; all she could see was trees, rocks, plants and more trees.

"Uh...no..." He said as he spun in a slow circle to try and get his bearings. After pushing his brain to its limits, he let out a defeated sigh and hung his head. "I'm lost..."

Ruby giggled lightly as she pointed in a direction. "We were travelling eastward, so I guess we should head that way...hopefully, meet the others," she said as Jaune nodded and began to walk in the direction she had pointed.

"Oh, can you call them up on your scroll?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shook her head no, and her head dropped slightly. "The CCT tower was destroyed, so our scrolls are only good for paperweights and downloaded apps that don't require a constant connection until we get to Mistral..." 

Jaune silently swore at himself for the fifth time today, forgetting that Scrolls were useless right now, "Right, sorry I forgot..." 

Ruby simply shook her head and curled up a little against his body. "You okay?" she asked. "You've been carrying me for a while now, you must be getting tired"

He gave her a small smile and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I had to haul Nora's weapon back to the dorm after her she ate all the pancakes in the cafeteria that one day and got chased out before she could collect it." He smiled at the memory. "And let me tell you, Magnhild is not light..." Ruby laughed a bit as he took a deep breath and felt a very strong wind blow past them, sending shivers through their bodies. "Looks like a storm..." Jaune said as the wind continued to rise around them, causing the trees to rattle as branches bounced against each other. Ruby nodded and looked around slightly.

"We'd better hurry."

Jaune picked up his pace, but they were still caught out in the middle of the storm that blew past the trees, sending large clumps of snow into his face, wetting his hair as the cold stung his face. He positioned himself the best he could to prevent most of the snow from hitting the girl he was carrying but she just pulled the hood more over her head to try and cover herself. Her cloak was waving behind them as the wind picked up even further. He could smell the faint fragrance of roses as the cloak whipped past him. He stood and looked down at her, lost in his own little world until a length of her cloak whipped around and slapped him across to the face, sending a painful cold slap to bring him back to reality.

"We need to get out of this wind!" Ruby shouted over the wind and snow. With a point of her

finger, Jaune followed it and saw a large opening in the base of a larger tree. Making his way over to it, he peered inside and saw that it was an opening that led down deeper under the tree; leading into a natural cave that the tree created where there would just be a large hole in the ground. Doing his best to be as gentle with her as possible, he set her down and slipped in first, sword at the ready.

There was only enough headroom for them to crawl anywhere inside the small ‘cave’. They could probably fit Nora and Ren down here before things got super uncomfortable if they could find them. With nothing but roots and dry dirt in the hole, Jaune helped Ruby down and they crawled to the back and sat down to wait for the storm to die out.

As the wind whipped past the entrance to their little hovel, their clattering teeth became the noise that filled the room, with the howling of the wind joining them. He could feel his armour begin to chill him further so he took it off and set it to the side as he looked through his pack for anything to help. He managed to pull the wool blanket out and looked at it for a few moments before crawling over to Ruby and wrapping her up in it. "Aren't. You. Cold?" She asked through chattering teeth.

"I'll be. Fine," he replied, doing his best to stop his own chattering and violent shaking. He slumped down next to her, pushing his hands into his armpits to try and get feeling back into his limbs. After a few moments, he heard Ruby began to shift next to him. Looking over, he saw her shifting closer and closer to him until they were shoulder to gentle hand. She pushed her hood over her head further, obscuring her face, before she moved his arms out of his armpits and crawled into his lap.

His face turned a deep crimson as she wrapped the blanket around the two of them, followed by her cloak, making a cocoon of warmth. He felt her hands on his under the blankets and she forced him to hold her by her waist; her face was still hidden, but he suspected that her face was the same shade as her hood.

"It'll be warmer this way," Ruby said simply, "Sharing body heat..." She was right, his shaking was going down and he could feel his jaw stop making his teeth bash against each other. She was sitting sideways in his lap, he saw her legs poking out from his right side as her right shoulder pressed against his chest, her head leaning on his shoulder. He could feel her breath on his neck; he was fighting with his mind and body to stop them from doing what they wanted to do by making an embarrassing situation even more awkward if he popped a boner.

He just kept all his mental energy on breathing and not shaking her too much when he needed to adjust himself every time his butt began to fall asleep on the cold ground under him. After a while, his concentration was broken by her shoulder slowly jumping against his chest a few times, a quiet sob escaping from under her hood. Slowly, he reached up and pulled the red cloth from her head and saw tears running down her face as she looked up at him with sad, silver eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jaune," she cried out as quietly as she could.

Jaune pushed his hands back under the blanket and held her close in a hug. "It's okay, Ruby. It's my fault you were dragged down here with me" He tried to reason with her.

She shook her head, her hair flailing against his face gently, bringing with it a fresh wave of the scent of roses he was growing accustomed to while they sat together like this. "No, not this...I'm sorry for Pyrrha," she sniffed as she tried to wipe the snot off her face with her black sleeve. He felt his heart give a little, not at the mention of her again, but for this conversation again all together. "I wasn't fast enough to save her! I wasn't fast enough to save Penny! Or Pyrrha! Or anyone else during the attack! What kind of Huntress am I?" she asked as she placed her face in her hands and cried some more. Gently, Jaune reached up and pulled her hands from her face so he could look into her eyes.

"Ruby, you are the best Huntress out of all of us right now," he said gently. "I mean, you got into Beacon two years early. That's an unbelievable accomplishment in its own right. I'm the useless one," he said sullenly, "I lied my way into Beacon. Counterfeit transcripts got me in, and I struggled in everything I did there. It was only thanks to Pyrrha that I didn't get dropped..." His blue eyes scanned down. "It wasn't your fault that she died, Ruby. It’s mine. I wasn't a strong enough leader to protect my teammate, my partner, my friend..." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes lightly. He could feel Ruby had stopped crying, lightly trying to wipe her eyes with her sleeves as best she could.

Her voice came out quietly, just barely a whisper. "You're strong enough for me, Jaune"

"I'm not strong enough for anyone..." he said just as softly. "I wasn't strong enough to finish primary combat school, so I left home every day and stayed out in a field while everyone else learned how to be heroes. I wasn't strong enough to tell my parents, so I lied to them about continuing my training. I wasn't strong to make my own weapon so I stole my grandfather's and lied my way into Beacon. I wasn't strong enough to protect all those people who died at Beacon either." He stared at the hard stone and the thick roots that dangled from the ceiling. "I'm not strong enough to stay with you guys. I'll just stay in whatever town we go to next and you guys keep going..."

She was silent for a few moments before speaking his name quietly. Pulling his attention away from the wall to look at her, he was caught off guard when her face was so close to him. Her lips suddenly pressed against his and he was shocked into stillness. She pushed into the kiss gently, and he found himself kissing back out of reflex. Her lips were slightly rough from being out in the cold for so long, but roses filled his nose and his thoughts as he pulled her just a bit closer to him.

His eyes closed lightly before she broke away. She placed her head under his chin and snuggled close to him, his hoodie being balled in her fist tightly. "We won't leave you Jaune," she said quietly, "I won't leave you." He gripped the blanket and the cloak and pulled them tighter around the two of them. He suddenly felt very tired while he was trying to make sense of what just happened, so he made sure his sword was nearby just in case. Closing his eyes, he leaned against her softly; his head on hers as he slowly fell asleep with her in his arms, his mind filled with a little girl wearing red and black.

A rustling woke him up from his little nap. The light was still coming through the entrance of their little cave, meaning they weren’t  asleep for long. Looking over, he saw a man with dark hair with a pink strip lean in and look at them. A small smile graced Ren's lips as his shoulders dropped in relief. Leaning back and calling out for Nora, Jaune looked down at Ruby who was still asleep on his chest and shook her gently in order to wake her up. "Hey, we're rescued," he told her gently. When she didn't stir, he shook her a bit harder and then heard her heavy breathing.

Leaning down, he gently pushed some of her red tinted hair out of her face and saw her eyes closed tightly and sweat droplets on her forehead. Placing his hand on her forehead, he could feel a terrible fever on her skin. "Ruby?" He shook her a bit more. Ren must have heard the urgency in his voice because suddenly he was next to them and examining her. Jaune pulled the blanket off of them and laid her down slowly. Ren looked over and saw the large shard of wood that was still in her leg and quickly undid the bandages and examined the area. Jaune looked over and saw the skin around the wound was an angry red with streaks of red running up and down her leg.

"Damn, it’s gotten infected..." Ren said as he quickly wrapped the damaged area again and the two men began to pull her out of the hole. Jaune quickly gathered their things as Nora took her pack off and picked up the small woman with ease. "We need to get her to the next town now before it gets any worse." Jaune nodded as he picked up Nora's pack and the three of them  began to run to the east, hoping the next town was nearby. Jaune refused to lose anyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter up for this, not much to say unfortunately. 
> 
> A big thanks to StreetAngelJ for proofreading and editing of this chapter!
> 
> If you liked this, please leave a Kudo, it means a lot to know people actually enjoy this. While a Kudo goes a long way, a comment goes further. I welcome any and all feedback and thank you for taking the time to read my story.


	3. Chapter 3

A gentle creaking broke through the haze of Ruby's mind. Waking up slowly, she did not open her eyes as she pulled the sheets closer around herself, melting into the loving embrace of the bed. The next noise she heard was a sneeze. Why was someone sneezing in her room? As her brain tried to figure out what was going on, a sudden wave of memories flooded her mind. The tournament, her sister, Yang's disqualification, Penny, Pyrrha. The lethargy of sleep was forced out of her system with a shock and she quickly sat up, or at least she tried to.

When she tried to pull her leg into a more comfortable position to sit up with, pain rocked up to her calf and thigh. She hissed in pain as another wave of memories flowed through her mind; she was fighting Grimm in a forest somewhere before. She remembered rushing over to help Jaune, then the two of them tumbled down a cliff and she ran into a tree on the way down ending up with a large shard of wood pierced through her leg.

"Ruby!" Looking over to where the voice came from, Jaune looked like he had just woken up from his seat in a wooden chair near her bed. He had a blanket wrapped around him as he got out of his seat and sat down next to her. "You okay?" he asked softly as his blue eyes met her silver ones.

"Y-yeah" Ruby managed to scratch out. Her throat was very sore and dry and she gently massaged her throat. Hearing how dry her voice was, Jaune gently reached out and picked up a glass of water that was sitting on the bedside table and handed it to her; before quickly wrapping himself up with the blanket once more. Accepting the water, she took large gulps and sighed deeply.

The water was ice cold and felt so good on her sore throat. When the glass was done, she set it back and looked around the room she was currently in. She was laying in a single bed, the sheets were a simple white while the thick blanket on top was made from heavy wool. The room itself was small and painted a muted blue and a door was on the far side with Ruby's cloak, Crescent Rose, and Jaune's armour and weapons piled neatly next to it. A single window was her only view to the outside world but it was frosted over, she couldn't see anything. "Where are we?" Ruby asked finally as her inspection of the room came back round and landed onto Jaune.

"A village just outside of Lake Lady," Jaune said quietly. "It’s another two days walk to get there, so we're getting some supplies while we're waiting here for you to heal up." Hearing that, Ruby quickly threw the blankets off her hips and looked down at her leg. Large white wrappings covered most of her calf. She gently traced her fingertips along where she knew her wound was, she could feel the tender muscles under the bandages as her Aura slowly knit her skin and muscles back together. With a heavy sigh, Ruby tore her gaze away from her leg and looked over at Jaune as she spoke.

"How long did they say I was going to be down?...Jaune?" The man suddenly seemed very interested in the frosted over the window as he cleared his throat. From where she sat, he could see a deep shade of red on his face.

"A couple of days," he said awkwardly. "Uh. The lady who runs this place also took your clothes to be washed as well...Since they were dirty." Ruby looked at him with a confused look on her face before looking back down at herself. She was wearing a large, baggy t-shirt and nothing else. She could see her bare legs all the way up to her pair of pink panties. Feeling heat rushing to her face, she let out a squeak as she pulled the blankets quickly back around her to cover herself in front of Jaune. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and still her nerves.

"I'm covered," she said quietly, her face still red. Slowly, Jaune peeked over his shoulder to make sure before turning his whole body once again.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" he told her, his face just as red as her's. After a couple more moments of awkward silence, she cleared her throat and looked around again.

"So, what happened?" she asked softly. Jaune was silent for a few moments before answering.

"Well, I guess that riverbed was dirtier than we thought and you got a pretty bad infection pretty quick after your fall," he said quietly, "then I carried you into a small cave under a tree to get out of the cold, then we had a pretty depressing conversation..." He trailed off and blinked a few times, "And then you kissed me." 

Ruby blinked a few times and let that information slowly sink in. She could feel heat spreading all the way from her face, down her neck, and to the top of her ears. Her brain clicked and she remembered exactly what happened that night. The way she leaned up and set him up to steal a kiss to try and make him feel better. Groaning loudly, she pulled the blankets up to her face and tried to make herself as small as possible.

"I'm sorry, Ja-"

"Why did you do it?" he asked quickly and quietly. He was not looking at her now; his gaze was trained on the floor in front of him. She slowly lowered the blanket as to uncover her face and wrapped the blanket around her body a bit more. The silent seconds ticked by as Ruby tried desperately to think of something to say; she sighed deeply and willed her stomach to settle as she turned to look at him finally and spoke softly.

"Because, Jaune. I hate seeing you like that, I was trying to-"

"Trying to what?" he asked looking over at her. "Trying to cheer me up? I'm not a charity case!" he snapped at her. Ruby was taken back as his voice rose quickly. His eyes widened and his shoulders drooped as he looked away again. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that. It’s just...Ugh..." He reached out and ran his hand through his messy blond hair and scratched his head. "I'm not sure what I should be doing right now. I'm really confused about what I'm feeling and I don't know..." he sighed heavily as he pulled his arm back into his blanket cocoon, "Why would you even think about doing something like that?" He looked back down at the ground and took a deep breath.

Ruby was silent for a length of time now. Taking a deep breath, she felt the blush creep across her face once more as she looked at him. "Because, Jaune" she began, doing her best to keep her voice steady, "I li-" Her voice failed her and it dipped down to an inaudible level before she could finish the sentence. He looked over at her and raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"What?" She was silent and shook her head quickly, her red tinted black hair waving as she started taking deep breaths. "Ruby, I couldn't hear you. What did you-"

"I said I liked you!" Ruby cried out. It was Jaune's turn to be taken aback from the volume of her voice. As it turned out, their conversations lately consisted of long lengths of silence between spouts of loud talking. She pulled her blanket back up to her face and took deep breaths before speaking quietly, "I said I liked you..." Jaune simply blinked a few times before working through his thoughts.

"Why would you like me?" he asked. As he looked over at her, she could faintly see a blush still on his face. She wasn't sure if it was still from when he saw her mostly naked or from her sudden declaration.

Well, now or never I suppose; Ruby thought as she pulled the blanket from her face again and took a deep breath. "Jaune...You were the first friend I made at Beacon."

"What about Yang?"

"She ditched me once we got ten feet into the courtyard," Ruby said with a small roll of her eyes. "You were the first person I met. You're funny, good looking-" He raised his eyebrow in surprise as she continued. "-You just, kinda have an air about you that I really like. It’s like, I can be me around you, and not try to pretend like I belong. If that makes any sense."

He simply nodded lightly as he scratched at his cheek gently. "I think I do?" he muttered lightly. "Why didn't you tell me this before?" he asked her.

Another sigh left her lips. "Because, I felt like I didn't belong at Beacon," she began. "I was pushed ahead two years! plus you were trying to get Weiss interested in you. Then there was Pyrrha..." Her voice lowered again as his gaze went to the ground once more. "She was interested in you, and how could I compete with her?" More silence, she really didn't know what else to say. Luckily, Jaune took a turn to speak.

"Ruby...I-" He took a breath and sighed lightly. "Thanks, for being there for me through this whole thing...But, I can't just take her out of my life. She was my best friend at Beacon, She helped me so much and I can't just forget about her"

"Jaune, listen to me," She reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her and she could see tears getting ready to roll down his cheeks. She smiled softly at him and gently squeezed his shoulder through the blanket. "I'm not asking you to replace her with me. I would never ask you to do that. She was my friend too. I'm just saying; that I'm willing to wait for you..." She offered him another small smile as she looked into his blue eyes. "I'm willing to wait for however long you need." He took a deep breath and nodded to her.

"Thanks, Ruby," he quietly spoke as he tried to return the smile. She nodded slightly, took her hand back, and looked around once more.

"So, where's Nora and Ren?" she asked, desperate to change the topic. He seemed relieved to talk about something else as well.

"Looking for a Huntsmen Board," he answered. "With the Tower down, they can't call for a Huntsmen if they need one. We might as well do something while we're here, plus it'll pay off the medic bill and any other supplies we'll need when we go off." Ruby nodded as she opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a rather loud stomach churn.

Her face went red once more as she looked down at herself and laughed nervously. Jaune laughed as well as he got off of the bed and placed the blanket on the chair. "I'll see if I can't find you something to eat. I'm sure you're hungry" She nodded slightly, still embarrassed about the whole ordeal between the two of them; but she was glad that he was taking this in stride. She was about to thank him when something caught her eye.

"Wait, Jaune!" He stopped and looked back at Ruby. She pointed to his shirt and her jaw dropped. "What is that?!" she cried out as a grin formed on her face. Looking down, all he saw was his own black hoodie.

"What, my hoodie? I've always had this."

"But there's a cute little bunny rabbit on it!" She cried out as she began to laugh furiously. Her sides began to hurt from her empty stomach as she laughed out loud, but she just could not stop.

"Yeah...It's pumpkin Pete!, like from the cereal," he said gesturing to the cartoonish white rabbit printed on his hoodie.

"Was that a box topper prize or something?" she cried out as she tried to wipe the tears off her cheeks. Her face was beginning to hurt as well now.

"Yeah, like fifty!" he defended. That sent her into a hysterical laughter fit. She flopped onto her back and began to roll around on the bed, holding her stomach as her legs kicked out. Her leg still hurt, but it was just too much for her to stop. He sighed and rolled his eyes as he left the room as she rolled too far and fell face first onto the cold wooden floor in a tangle of blankets, sheets and limbs.

With a dying fit of giggles, she managed to get back into the bed and smoothed the sheets over her form. A small smile stayed on her face as she pulled herself up on her bed and leaned against the headboard. Turning her head slightly, she looked out the frosted window to see the blurred winter world beyond it.

"I can wait for you, Jaune..." she said to no one but herself. Sorrow filled her chest as she remembered the winter that she waited for her mother. She waited for three weeks for the front door to open and reveal Summer Rose. "I'm good at waiting..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Another update! Holy cow. 
> 
> Sorry for the late update, but as it turns out, its really hard to balance a bunch of stories at once! Imagine that. So I promise to update this one as often as I can, but I want to give equal attention to each of my stories as much as I can. 
> 
> Big thanks to StreetAngelJ for proofreading and editing of this chapter!
> 
> If you enjoyed, please leave a Kudo, it really means a lot. A comment with a review or feedback is always loved and thank you for taking the time to read my little slice of fluff/angst.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Live! Damn you! Live!

It had been a couple of days since they had arrived in the small town to treat Ruby's injury. Jaune was having problems keeping his head clear of the thoughts that kept entering the very moment he took his mind off whatever self-assigned task he had taken up during their stay. He did anything he could do inside the small town; chopping firewood, helping out with hunting deer or setting traps for rabbits, carrying tools for the blacksmith, and filling the food troughs at the stables...

"Jaune?"

Snapping out of his trance, he looked over to Ren. The two of them were helping prepare dinner for the house. An elderly woman gave them rooms in her house to sleep in while Ruby was healing. She said that the rooms of her children were always empty so she did not mind the company. Inside the kitchen, a pot was bubbling away with the ingredients they had already prepared while they were chopping up a few more things to add to it.

"Are you okay?" the dark-haired man asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because you just cut your finger..."

Looking down at his cutting board he saw blood on the knife he was using, as well on a few carrots he had cut. His Aura had already sealed the wound but the blood remained. With a sigh, he shook his head and dropped the knife into the sink to be cleaned while washing the blood off his fingers. "Sorry," he said simply as he dried his hands off and began to separate the contaminated carrot slices from the clean ones and began to eat the ones he bled on. No use letting them go to waste since it was his blood anyways.

"Are you sure you're okay, Jaune? You've been kinda out of it for a while now..." Ren said as he collected the pieces of celery he had cut up and deposited them into the stew.

"Yeah, just a lot of my mind, y'know?" He was not lying, just neglecting to mention what was on his mind. He chewed on the few slices of carrots he soiled as Ren put the rest of the ingredients into the stew.

"Does this have anything to do with why you're flipping between caring for Ruby and completely ignoring her?" he asked. Jaune sighed as he rubbed the back of his head gently. Of course, Ren noticed. The man is a ninja in a green shirt with a pink stripe in his hair currently wearing a pink apron. Jaune had been tearing himself apart trying to help Ruby recover as fast as she could. This meant that he would help her out of bed to change the sheets, help her move to the bathroom where Nora or the nice woman would help out for more womanly things, and taking meals to her.

But then he would notice the look in her eyes, the smile on her lips, the sound of her voice as she thanked him, or simply the way she said his name. All of that would remind him of what she had

told him; what she confessed to him their first day here. Then, he would panic. He would avoid her and go about his self-appointed tasks to try and forget about the fact that she liked him like that. The same way that Pyrrha did. Then, after a few hours, he would feel guilty about ignoring her since it was his fault she was hurt in the first place, and try and help her every way possible, creating a vicious cycle he could not escape from.

"Kinda..."

"Jaune," Ren placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, "it may be your fault that Ruby got hurt, but she already forgave you. You don't have to feel guilty about it. Without you being there, she probably would have died from her infection." Jaune let his shoulders drop as he listened to his friend. How easy it would be if that was the only thing that was bothering him. With a sigh, he popped the rest of the carrots into his mouth and took his time to chew them, buying more time to think.

"Ren," Jaune asked as their dinner stewed, "can I ask you something?"

"Anytime you need to, Jaune," Ren said as he pulled off the cooking apron off his body and neatly folded it in the table.

"Okay. So, hypothetically-" Jaune began.

"Hypothetically," Ren nodded.

"-What if you knew a girl for almost a year-"

"mmhm,"

"And, hypothetically, something happens to her-"

Ren nodded as he listened, cleaning up the kitchen as Jaune continued.

"And, hypothetically, in a delirium of some sort brought on by some idiot that just happens to be you, she admits that she likes you..."

At that, his friend paused mid-movement of turning on the tap and simply blinked a few times. Once he was done processing the information, he resumed his task and began to wash the tools they used to cook dinner.

"Well, hypothetically-" Ren started.

"Hypothetically," Jaune agreed.

"I would take her feelings into consideration and do what I believe is the right thing to do by both her and myself," the man said as he began to dry off the knives before placing them back into the stand. "I hope that helps." Jaune just nodded as he looked out the frosted window into the dark, cold winter evening. He needed to think about this some more and he was not sure how long that would take. Eventually, the stew was finished and they carried four bowls between the two of them down the halls towards the room Ruby and Nora were currently occupying.

With a soft knock and waiting for a few seconds, Jaune balanced the third bowl as Ren opened the door. Inside, Ruby was still confined to bed and she was just barely keeping it together. Not being able to move around like she wanted to, she was slowly losing her mind. She was scolded by the nice woman who let them into her house when she tried to explore a little bit the second day. Her only saving grace was the fact that she could perform simple maintenance on her weapon while sitting in bed and play a few card games with whoever was around.

Currently, the two women of their team were engaged in some form of card game on the bed. Jaune was not sure who was winning when they came in since Ruby threw her arms in the air, sending her hand flying into the air. "Hurray! Food!" she called out. Nora looked up from her hand and saw Ren and Jaune bringing dinner and did the same thing, sending cards fluttering through the air and onto the ground; joining Ruby in calling out for food.

Jaune let out a small laugh as Ren just sighed and shook his head. The two of them made their way to the bed and handed out the bowls of stew. "You're going to have to clean those up, Nora," Ren told her as he pulled over another chair and sat down in it. Jaune simply leant against the nightstand and took his first mouthful of stew. A chunk of beef and a carrot made him feel like he could forget the whole ordeal. Real food had nothing on the ration packs they were eating before they arrived.

The meal was shared with casual conversations about what was going on outside, what everyone did during the day and how Ruby will try to walk around a bit tomorrow. With a few comments from everyone else, Jaune began to collect the bowls to be washed before heading in for the night. As Ruby handed hers out to him, his fingers brushed up against hers lightly, and he was about to say sorry for it when he looked into her eyes.

Large pools of silvers stared into the deep blue of his as his fingers slipped over her knuckles as he took her bowl. "Thanks, Jaune," she said quietly.

There it was again. The way she spoke his name.

He heard her say his name hundreds of times back at Beacon, but like with Pyrrha, he only noticed affection directed towards him when he was slapped in the face by it. First, it was Pyrrha's kiss before she forced him into a rocket locker and sent him to safety. Now, it was Ruby, who confessed to him after nearly losing her leg to an infection. He did not know how long he looked into her eyes, but obviously, it was long enough for someone to notice.

"Oh. My. God." Nora whispered not so quietly. Looking over to the redhead, she was looking between Jaune and Ruby with wide eyes and a grin creeping across her face. Jaune quickly yanked the bowl from Ruby's hand as she yanked her hand away at the same time; her face glowing red as she tried to look away from him while he did the same. "Ruby, do you hav-" She was interrupted by a pillow flying wrapping around her face with so much force that it knocked her to the ground as red petals fell across the path to her.

Looking back at Ruby, Jaune saw her face was red and she had her arm stretched out from where she had thrown her pillow at Nora. Undeterred by the sudden appearance of the pillow on her face or her new position on the ground, Nora simply raised the pillow off her face and looked down at the bed. "You do have-" Once again, her comment was cut off by Ruby, this time the younger woman leapt off the bed using her semblance and forced the pillow back onto her face. Nora continued to talk, even though her words were being muffled by the pillow.

"Didn't that hurt?" Jaune asked as he stood by and watched Ruby try to smother his teammate.

"Yes. Yes, it did..."

Suddenly, Nora simply puts her hands under Ruby and lifted her up like she weighed nothing and got up like nothing happened. Ruby let out an undignified squeak as she was slipped into bridal style in Nora's arms and was simply deposited back into her bed. Before either male member of the team could say anything, the hammer wielder of their group began to shove them out of the door. "Out out out out!" she said as she forced them to start walking.

"What, why?" the blond boy asked.

"Girl talk."

"What?"

"Girl talk!" Nora said as a way of clarification. With one more maniacal grin, she all but slammed the door in their faces before muffled yelling and shouting was heard from behind the door. The two men just stared at the wooden door in silence as they just took in what had just happened. Finally, with a breath, Ren broke through.

"Jaune,"

"Yes, Ren?"

"Hypothetically-"

"Hypothetically." Jaune nodded.

"-Did Ruby confess feelings to you?" Ren asked as he looked over at his teammate.

He took a deep breath and held it as he tried to think of an answer that did not sound so pathetic. "Yeah..." he breathed out finally as his shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat. Ren simply nodded as he turned to follow Jaune towards the bedroom that he was sleeping in during their stay here. Flopping onto the single bed, he stared up at the ceiling and ran his hands over his face, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"What do I do, Ren?" Jaune finally asked.

Ren simply walked up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. Did she say anything?" he said simply.

"She said she would wait for me..." he mumbled out as he draped his arm over his face.

Ren simply gave his shoulder a squeeze and began to walk away. "Then, perhaps time will hold the answers..." Jaune simply hummed as the door clicked closed gently, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

* * *

 

 As it turned out, time did not wait long before the answer presented itself. Ren was just sitting at the desk in the two-bed room he and Nora shared when the woman in question busted into the room like she did with every room she ever entered. He did not even look up from his oiled cloth as he cleaned his weapon. "This. Is. Happening!" Nora said as she rushed to Ren's side like she always did. Her bright aqua eyes were shining as she practically vibrated with excitement.

"Nora, no."

"Nora yes!"

"Nora-"

"But, Ren. Think about it!"

"Nora-"

"If they get together-together,"

"Nora-"

"Then they can stop being so mopey,"

_ "Nora-" _

"And start being happy!"

"Nora!" Ren grabbed her by her shoulders to stop her from talking. "We can't just set our friends up like that..."

Confusion crossed Nora's face as she looked at him. "Why not? Ruby likes him."

Ren sighed as he released her shoulders and sat back down in the chair. "Jaune doesn't know how he feels about her."

Then, Nora looked out into the great void, her eyes movings quickly as she unravelled the very fabric of reality to find the cosmic answer on what to do next. She stared out for a few seconds before she looked back at him with a smile. "So, we make him like her!"

"Nora..." he sighed heavily as he placed his face in the palm of his hands and leant on his elbows, exasperated with his partner.

"And if they like each other, then they'll be happy! And if they're happy, then all the Grimm will stop coming after us!"

Ren was about to counter her train of thought but stopped. She was right. Ever since they had left patch and began to trek across the Kingdom of Vale, they barely went a few days without meeting a band of Grimm. Even with the increased volume of the dark creatures because of the city's fall, they were far enough away from the epicentre to avoid most of them. But something was drawing them to their group, and it took less than a second to understand why.

With Jaune's grief over losing Pyrrha, his best friend and a woman whose last moments with him were a kiss goodbye, and Ruby's guilt of not doing enough to save her there were enough negative feelings between them to draw the attention of even more Grimm. It was making the team and every town they visited or stayed in for any length of time, a target for Grimm attack;  including this one. Even with their weapons and skill, they will eventually exhaust their ammunition and grow tired of fighting all the time with barely a moment of reprieve.

He did not know what scared him more; the fact that Nora was right, or the fact that he was going to help her _because_ she was right.

With one final sigh, Ren pulled his face out of his hands and looked at his partner and oldest friend. "I'm assuming you have a plan already?" he asked. Her grin grew three times the usual size when she realised that he was going to help her. He suddenly felt very afraid; for Ruby, Jaune, himself, and anyone who got caught up in the crossfire as Nora decided to play matchmaker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I've pretty much hit a brick wall with this one but somehow I found a way! 
> 
> Even after I finished writing it, I'm not sure if I did a good job at portraying everyone properly, so any and all feedback is welcomed and appreciated. 
> 
> Big thanks to StreetAngelJ for proofreading and editing of this chapter!
> 
> If you enjoyed, please leave a Kudo. If you already have, leave a comment, I love reading them and replying to them. I also have a Tumblr (AngryFaceWritings) Which I don't know how to use properly, I also post on FF.Net under the name AngriestFace (Because some jackass took Angry_Face and is doing nothing with it) 
> 
> As always, thank you for taking the time to read through my little slice of Dork-love.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Release the Nora!

"It's morning!"

Lie Ren was forced out of his dreams when a sudden shout erupted in his ear. It was too early in the morning for this, he grumbled incoherently under his breath and turned onto his side to wrap himself up with as much of the blankets as he could as Nora sang out her usual morning song. Which consisted of the words _'It's morning'_ over and over until he finally relents and gets out of bed. But for right now, it was much too cold outside the warmth of his blanket cocoon. " _Get up_ , lazy bones!" was his only warning when he felt someone grab his mattress and lift it with ease, letting him slide onto the cold floor.

 _Why do I even bother..._ Ren wondered as he sat up with the blankets wrapped around him. "Morning, Nora," he mumbled out as he tried to keep his eyes open.

"Good morning, Ren!" Nora said sweetly, "Ready for the plan?"

It took Ren a few moments to remember what exactly she was talking about in his pre-conscious mind. A feeling of dread settled in his stomach when he realised what she was talking about. "I suppose," he replied as he got up from his blanket cocoon while Nora fixed the bed. He laid the blanket down and made both beds in the room as Nora began to dance around, humming happily as she looked out the window. The sun was out in a crisp blue sky. Once the beds were made, he turned to the energetic ginger shook his head, "So, do you have-"

Before he finished speaking, Nora had shoved a piece of paper into his face. "Yup! I need you to get these things then we'll get those love birds together!" Gently taking the piece of paper from her hand, he read over it and raised an eyebrow at its contents.

"A love potion?"

"Yup!"

Looking back down at the paper, he could see a list of handwritten ingredients that were needed for it. The paper was old and the ink had begun to fade; he could also see that the paper had been folded time and time again, the edges were beginning to fall apart. She had held onto this for a long time. Reading the items he needed, he felt his stomach beginning to roil as he imagined how exactly these things were supposed to cause love between two people. Looking up from the paper, he saw Nora waiting with a wide smile on her face. With a sigh, he folded the paper and nodded, "I'll see what I can find." _And try not to kill them._

She grinned and quickly nodded. "You get those, and I'll start setting everything up," she said as they began to leave the room. Ren simply nodded as he closed the door behind him and saw Jaune walking out of his room further down the hall. They waved to each other with the usual morning greetings as they began to head towards Ruby's room to help her out of bed like they had been for the last few days.

"What's the plan today?" Jaune asked as he fought against a yawn but lost.

"Well, we've got some things to do today, right Ren?" As much as he hated lying to his friends, he did promise Nora that he would work with her for this plan.

"Yes," he replied timidly. Jaune looked at him with a confused look on his face; like he knew that he was lying. Before Ren could come clean, Nora slammed her elbow into his side, causing him to cough and struggle for air.

"Ren was going to go forage for things in the woods, _right Ren?_ "

Catching his breath finally, he cleared his throat and looked between the confused Jaune and the threatening Nora. "Yes."

"And I'll be helping out at the hall all day!" Nora chimed him as she grabbed Ren's arm and began to drag him out of the house. "So you need to take care of Ruby all day! Cya, have fun!" Nora simply dragged Ren out of the house in a hurry, leaving a very confused Arc in their wake. Nora forced him all the way to the main hall where she finally unhanded him and pointed him in the direction he needed to go. "I'll be here when you get back!" She then kicked open the doors and made her way to the kitchen, leaving Ren to sigh and start his appointed task.

Finding some of the items would not be so hard. A pinecone, birch root, bark. Others were not so easy. Hair of dog, cow horn dust, yellow cap mushroom. One of the items was just red berries, not even a type of berry, just red. Ren then subbed a few items out for non-lethal variants, then spent an hour trying to convince a farmer to allow him to collect some saliva from his llama named Kuzco, who ended up giving it to him at a higher velocity than he wanted. Wiping the ingredient off his face with a cloth, everything was collected by just past noon.

While he did not know what was in store for him when he walked into the kitchen of the hall; he certainly wasn’t expecting blacked out windows, lit candles, and a large leather bound book next to a large pot. It was currently boiling with some strange green liquid inside of it while Nora was stirring it and chanting something he was not even sure was a proper language. Ren was completely and utterly speechless at the scene he just walked into. "Oh good, you're back!" Nora excitedly ran up to him, grabbed the basket from him, and began to simply throw the items into the pot, causing an ominous smoke to rise.

"Nora. Are you sure this is safe?" he asked as he watched her throw each piece without concern.

"Yup! I know exactly what I’m doing!" she said with a grin as she pulled an entire garlic head out of a cup of water and squeezed it in her hands, letting the water drip into the concoction. The potion made an audible _poof_ and turned from green to orange.

“That’s the part that worries me…” Just the idea of it was making his stomach churn and his mind was trying to figure out a way to counter anything Nora might induce in their friends.

"Done!" she cried out happily. She then produced a glass bottle and began to carefully pour the contents into it, working hard not to spill a drop.

As the glass bottle was filled, Ren could not help but notice that there were swirls of something silver in the orange liquid. Upon closer inspection, he really hoped his best friend had not put actual glitter in it. Then, something clicked in his head as she finished filling the bottle, "Nora..?"

"Yes, Ren?" She shoved a cork into the top and proceeded to shake the contents will all of her significant might.

"Why does this love potion look a lot like the good luck potion you had us drink when we applied for Beacon?"

The young woman stopped shaking the bottle and her eyes went wide, darting between the bottle in her hands and the man in front of her. He remembered helping her fill out her application for the Huntsmen Academy since her form looked more like hieroglyphics than words with her name at the top. Just before they mailed them in, Nora had brought out glass bottles like this one and told him that it was for good luck. Deciding to humour her that day, he drank the potion without complaint; resulting in a two-hour bathroom trip and then nothing tasting right for a week afterwards.

"Nope!" she replied before shaking the life out of the bottle. "tooootally not the same thing, nope!" After sufficient shaking, she began to walk out of the kitchen, leaving the mess behind.

"Where did you even get that recipe?" Ren asked her as he examined the bottle.

"Remember that carnival that came through that town we stayed at for a few years?" she asked.

"Yes?" He then thought about it for a few moments before sighing and placing his face in his hand, "That's why you said you spent all our money..."

Nora just laughed nervously as they walked through the snow back towards the house they were staying at. Clearing off their boots, they walked down the halls to Ruby's room where he knocked to stop Nora from just running in and shoving the bottle down a pair of throats without reason. Entering, Ren saw Jaune and Ruby were playing a card game on the bed. While that was nothing unusual since the younger woman was confined to bed, it was unusual since Ruby was sitting on top of the bed cross-legged.

Ren was more or less playing the role of the nurse to help Ruby heal faster, channelling small portions of his Aura whenever he was in charge of looking after her as well as changing her bandages and ensuring the stitching did not come out. "Hey, guys!" Ruby said happily as she waved at them; causing Jaune to look up from his cards and look over at them. "Where were you all day?" she asked as she set her hand down and leaned back slightly. Betraying nothing in his face, he looked to his partner to supply the lie they needed.

Luckily, she provided one. "We were getting you a healing potion! Right, Ren?" She yelled out while holding out the bottle of orange liquid.

It was not a good lie, but a lie nonetheless. "Yes."

The two other teammates just looked at the bottle, then at each other. "Gee, thanks, Nora..." Ruby cautiously began to back up on her bed. "You, uh, really shouldn't have..."

The Ginger just smiled and walked over to where a glass of water was sitting, grabbed it, and dumped its contents out the window; completely ignoring both Jaune saying that he was still drinking that and the poor soul who just now got half a cup of water spilled on him in the dead of winter. Pouring half a glass of the potion, she forced the glass into the injured girl's hand and urged her to drink it. Looking down into it, she took a cautious sniff of it and blanched at its scent.

"Is this safe to drink?" she stage-whispered to Ren.

"Yes."

He could see her jaw muscles tense as she gulped down her courage and lifted it to her lips. "Bottoms up!" Nora encouraged her. All eyes were on the dark haired girl as she shut her eyes tightly and downed the whole thing in a single swig. Once it settled in her stomach, she opened her eyes and just stared. Her face began to shift and her head twitched to the side a few times as she tried to process what she had just poured down her throat. Her body twitched slightly as Jaune began to get out of his seat and back away towards them.

Her skin paled and her head stopped jerking from side to side. She let out a loud groan as she gripped her stomach closed her eyes. "That. Is the worst thing. I've tasted. Ever. Of all time," she quietly said as her body finished having tremors and finally relaxed. They all stood and watched to see if she would explode suddenly. When nothing else happened, Ren let out a sigh of relief over the fact that his friend was still alive, at least for now. However, it was short-lived when Ren remembered that Nora still had half a bottle left.

"You okay Jaune? You should drink some too since you're hurt too."

"What? I'm not-" his excuse was cut off by Nora stomping on his foot, causing the blond young man to cry out in pain; giving her the opening to shove the head of the bottle into his mouth and force it down his throat. When it was emptied, she released her grip as he began to fall into a coughing fit. "I'm going to be sick..." was all he said before he sprinted out of the room towards the bathroom.

"Don't you dare! I SPENT A LONG TIME **MAKING THAT!** " Nora shouted as she chased him down, leaving Ren and Ruby in the room. They looked at each other and remained awkward.

"That wasn't poison... right?" she asked.

He was not entirely sure if it was or not, so he replied calmly.

"Yes."

He may have lied.

* * *

 

As night fell upon the small village, a pair of eyes were watching the houses and counting the people who lived in them. “How many?” one asked. The first lowered a pair of binoculars and looked over.

“Not a lot, I don’t think they’ll be any problems, hopefully,” the other said as he slipped the binoculars in a bag. Looking back, a caravan was waiting just behind the trees. It had been a rough winter for a lot of people, with Vale being overrun and Huntsmen concentrating on the fallen city, it’s now more dangerous than ever for the nomads of Sanus. Those who live beyond the kingdom’s rules and followers of their own paths.

“Come, the night draws colder and the sooner we get there, the sooner we can set up camp,” a young man said as they made their way back to their people.

“Let’s hope they have lots of food…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit of a fight, I'm always worried that I write characters wrong or make them do things they would never do. 
> 
> I have been assured that I have nothing to worry about. 
> 
> But still, the panic is there. 
> 
> So this is my attempt at humour, hopefully, it goes over well. 
> 
> Big thanks to StreetAngelJ for editing and proofreading this chapter!
> 
> If you enjoyed, please leave a Kudo. If you already have, leave a comment, I love reading them and I love replying to them! This story is also posted on FF.net so if you read over there please leave your support as well. 
> 
> As always, thank you for taking the time out of your busy days to read my slice of fluff!


	6. Chapter 6

The sounds of music drew Ruby from the warm embrace of her dream world. Looking around, she saw the sun was coming through the window of her borrowed room and the music was coming from outside. Curiosity drove her to throw the blankets off her body and slide her legs off the side of the bed. Pushing herself to her feet, she hissed a bit as her nearly healed wound reminded her that she was not completely healed yet; despite Nora's  _ "healing"  _ potion. Limping to the window, she slid it open and allowed the crisp winter air to assault her skin, creating goose bumps across her body. 

Sticking her head out the window, she looked around and saw a large circle of caravans just outside of the town that was not there the last time she had checked. She could see people walking around and playing a large variety of instruments that she could not identify from this far away. Behind her, the door opened up and she saw Nora, Ren and Jaune enter the room. All of them crowded around the window to see what she saw. "That wasn't there last night..." Nora spoke as they all pushed against Ruby. 

Ren offered his opinion. "No, they look like nomads."

"Nomads?" Jaune asked. 

"Yes. They are people who live outside the law of the kingdoms. They avoid Grimm encounters by keeping low numbers and constantly moving around, only settling for a few days at a time." Ren rubbed his chin lightly. "This must be one of the nomad tribes of Vale." Everyone finally let Ruby breathe as they took a step away from the window to close it and stop the cold from coming in. 

"You seem to know a lot about it, Ren," Ruby said as she rubbed her arms vigorously, trying to chase the chill off her skin. 

"We spent some time with a nomad tribe back in Mistral," Nora pitched in. 

"How come?" the younger woman asked after a beat.

The usual brightness that Nora exhumed dimmed a little before Ren covered for her. "We travelled around with one before we found an orphanage in Mistral," was all he had to say for Ruby to understand. After a few moments, Nora's usual cheeriness came back in full force as she grinned at all of them. 

"Well, let's get dressed and check it out!" 

It was then Ruby remembered that she was still wearing the simple t-shirt and underwear. Her face went red as she squeaked and pulled the hem of the shirt down lower to try and cover her decency. Jaune, realizing what he had accidentally walked into, tried to leave the room as quickly as he could, but only managed to run into the door frame at full force. A change of clothes and several bloody tissues later, the whole team left the house and began to wander towards the caravan just outside the town at a slower pace to keep up with Ruby. 

When they arrived at the nomad camp outside of the town, their senses were assaulted all at once as soon as they entered the clearing. Ruby looked at all the bright colours that adorned caravans, from the flags that hung from poles to what the people wore. Smells that clashed and mingled with each other from open fire pits or from inside large wooden carts assaulted her. The sounds of foreign instruments all playing together flooded her ears as they looked around. People danced in a mesmerizing blur to the beat of the drums and flutes that were played by people standing around the dancers, urging them to spin faster.

Other nomads were standing near collapsible stalls, most of which were selling food or spices of some sort. Others were showing off clothing or bolts of cloth, while a few more had trinkets or handmade goods. Ruby saw a few of the villagers were talking to a man who had several sheep and goats all tied up to a caravan post, bartering prices for livestock. As they were looking around, Ruby noticed something out of the corner of her eye and nearly screamed in excitement, but settled for a high pitched squealing noise. 

Making her way to a stand where weapons were on display as fast as she could, she began to take in as many designs as she could as the older man who was overseeing the tent tried to keep track of it. "Careful there, Missy," the man warned, "you break it, you buy it." The young woman looked at the man, then to the long, ornate dagger she was holding and gently put it back into place by the time her friends had caught up, her cheeks bright with embarrassment. They did not have much money anyways, let alone to buy any weapon she might break with her clumsiness. 

Ruby stayed outside with Nora as Ren began to inspect his wares. "So, where did you guys come from?" Jaune asked as he inspected a sword that was hanging off one of the poles that held up his stall. 

"We were travelling south when we came across this town. We just set up last night and are hoping to get a few supplies before we continue on." The man who ran the weapons stall pulled a pipe out from behind him and slipped the tip into his mouth and stuck a match with a flick of his wrist. 

"Why south?" Ruby asked as she inched her way back inside the tent to examine a mannequin arm that seemed to have some sort of weapon built into it. 

"Because it's warmer," the man laughed out as he slipped the flaming match into the end of the pipe and took a few puffs before blowing smoke out of his nose. "We were slowed down by the Grimm all heading towards the city. Shame what happened to those poor souls..." Ruby's hand slipped from the arm weapon and hung at her side. The memory of her school crawling with Grimm was still fresh in her mind. The fact that her friends had died during the attack, Penny and Pyrrha. 

Thinking of the crimson-haired woman, Ruby looked over at Jaune, he had a similar look on his face. The memory of his best friend dying took away any happiness he may have gotten from the Nomads colourful caravan. Mutely, they all looked around at the other stalls but did not feel all into it. After an hour, Ruby's leg reminded her that she was not completely healed yet and throbbed with pain. Jaune was the first one to ask if she wanted to go back, and she nodded numbly. 

When they arrived back at the elderly woman's house, she was looking out the window towards the Nomads with a scowl on her aged face. When they asked why she was looking at the people with such a spiteful face, she replied that a few Nomad tribes had come to their town a few times over the long years she had been living here, and each time they left a massive mess and did not respect the locals. The rest of the day was quiet between the four of them; no games, only a little talking between them, just a few simple words goodnight, and everyone went to their rooms. 

Laying in the darkness of her room, the blankets were pulled up to her chin as she laid on her side. A heavy sigh left Ruby's lips as she tried to will herself to sleep but it never came. Flopping onto her back, she stared up at the darkened ceiling of her borrowed room and let out a yawn. She knew she was tired but she just could not reach that final place of peace. The sad look she had seen on Jaune's face when he said goodnight only made her only want to comfort him even more. To go to him and hold him, whisper forgiveness in his ear, and let him cry into her shoulder. 

She would run her fingers through his hair and place gentle kisses on his head until he calmed down enough to lay next to her without him crying as hard. She would wrap her arms around him and hold him close, lost in the scent of his hair. Silver would meet blue as she would slowly draw him closer to him and kiss him gently. The kiss would deepen, and his hand would move down her back and hold her hips. Ruby would then move to straddle his waist and-

A high whistling noise rocked her consciousness awake as she was ripped from her fantasy. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as her breaths came in fast and deep. Yanking her hands off her own body and out of the pair of panties she was wearing, she held them above her head and shook her head firmly, trying to shake the images of herself sitting on the young man out of her head. "Bad Ruby. Bad." She forced herself to picture Zwei running through a field chasing squirrels for a few minutes before her body finally cooled down and she made sure her arms were on top of the blanket this time. 

She could never take advantage of Jaune like that. Sure she had a crush on him, but he was her friend and in a bad place. She felt bad for stealing that kiss in the first place, never mind doing  _ that  _ with him. Yang would probably kill him, then her, then burn his corpse just to send a message to anyone else who had that idea. Then Gods help whoever is in her father's path if he were to ever find out. A heavy sigh filled her room as she ran her hands over her face, trying to will the sleep back into her body as the whistling wind crept into her room again, ensuring that sleep could not come to her. 

It almost sounded like music, very eerie and unsettling music. Maybe that's why she was having such a hard time. Every note caused her heart to speed up and her brain to try to make sense of it. Hours passed and the wind finally died, but it was shortly followed by the sun that crept into her bedroom, robbing her of any more chances of sleep. Eventually, there was a knock at her door and she only groaned an affirmative loud enough for them to hear. The door opened and Ren walked in gently, carrying a tray of cooked breakfast which he set next to her bed. 

Looking up at the pink-streaked man confirmed that he probably got just as much sleep as she did. She did not know what she looked like, but she figured she had similar dark circles under her eyes as well. "Didn't get any sleep either?" Ruby asked as she finally pulled herself into a sitting position and pulled the tray into her lap. It consisted of a glass of water, a plate of toast with peanut butter on it, as well as a cooked egg for her. To her question, Ren simply did his best impersonation of a nod before flopping onto the chair and letting his head fall back limply. "Wind or Nora?" 

"The wind..." Ren said as he righted himself and rested his elbows on his knees and his face in the palm of his hands. "I've been able to sleep though Nora's snoring since we were ten." Ruby nodded as she began to cut her egg into smaller pieces and pop it into her mouth. Once she was done eating, she slipped her leg out of the blankets but kept the rest of her body covered so that Ren could change the bandages and apply some of the ointment they had left in their first aid kit. Looking down at her wound, she saw the still healing scabs and the new line of scar tissue that was forming. 

Applying the cooling ointment to both sides of the puncture wound, he was gentle when he wrapped the bandages back around her leg and collected the stained gauze and empty breakfast plates when the music from the Nomad caravan started up again. After letting the exotic melody fill the room for a few moments, Ren patted her shoulder lightly and urged her to try and get some rest. Her Aura could not heal her as quickly if she was too tired. 

Through the day, Ruby tried to get as much rest as she could, but between the sun, the music from the camp, and the fact that she had been bedridden for the past few days, she was all but losing her mind. Nora was at least good for a couple of hours of card games and conversations, but she was just as bad as Ren was; with dark circles under her eyes and having troubles staying awake. When dinner time came around, Jaune was the one who brought her the food. 

"Hey." 

"Hey," Ruby smiled at him as he set the tray in her lap gently and sat down in the chair. He also looked like the rest of them, tired from little to no sleep the previous night. 

"It seems like no one in the town got any sleep last night," he tried to get out with a yawn, "and the wind covered all the walkways with snow so I helped out most of the day by clearing paths." She really liked the fact that Jaune kept her up to date with what he was doing. She worried about him and hated when he was alone with no one to help him out.  They talked quietly about their families; he gave a brief overview of his seven sisters and Ruby could hardly believe that he managed to come out alive, based on the stories he told. 

Ruby gave a few stories of her own about her family and the times at home. "Then there was the time my dad and my sister had a pun off. It went on for three days..." Jaune laughed with a wide smile as he shook his head. "I can't remember who won, but everyone around them lost, that's for sure." Ruby was lost in his laugh until it eventually petered out and he got out of his seat. She then noticed it was dark out, and it was time for bed. 

"Well, have a good night, Ruby. Try to get some sleep." He gave her a gentle wave and began to walk out. 

"Goodnight, Jaune," she called out to him. She watched as he gripped the doorknob and froze for a moment. Her heart sped up at the very idea of something happening right now. For Jaune to turn around and kiss her like she always wanted to kiss him. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked at her over his shoulder and smiled at her. 

"See you tomorrow." He then quickly slipped out and closed the door behind him.

Ruby waited a few moments and groaned into her hands as loud as she dared. When she was done, she laid down in the bed and held her hands above her head and looked at them. "No funny business this time!" As the night came, the whistling came back. But it was not the wind, it sounded more like a lone flute that was hovering in the air. Tossing and turning in her bed, she tried to sleep but it never came. The few times she felt herself nodding off, she was greeting by shocks and nightmares that only lasted a few minutes at a time.

  
  


The flute music continued for another two days. From what she knew, it was getting on everyone's nerves. Through the days, Ruby learned that no one in the town was getting any sleep, and they were blaming the Nomads. Tensions were getting worse and worse until the third night of the flute playing when Ruby heard people yelling out of her window. Looking out of her frosted window, she saw a group of Nomads and a mob of townspeople were about to throw down. Ruby quickly got dressed and grabbed Crescent Rose before leaving her room and limping her way down the hall. 

Meeting up with the rest of her friends, they walked outside to where both mobs were yelling at each other. Pushing their way to the gap between the two factions, she could see the Nomads were looking just as bad as the townspeople; with heavy, dark bags under their eyes as they were yelling at the people. "You're just mad at us being here!"

"Maybe if you stuck to the cities, you wouldn't have to move around so much!" 

"It's you people who find false security in the empty promises in the kingdoms!" 

The verbal fighting was going back and forth between the Nomad tribe and the townspeople. Ren and Nora were trying their best to calm down the tribe as Jaune and Ruby tried their best to get everyone back to their homes. Insults were shouted over her head as people tried to get into striking distance of each other. With no real sleep, everyone was weak and easily angered. Ruby did not know where it came from, but someone threw something and she felt a tin can hit her temple.

Her last bits of patience snapped as she felt Jaune try to go towards her to help her up, only to be pushed aside as the two mobs were about to clash into physical violence. Pulling her weapon out and it sprung to life, she stabbed the blade tip into the ground and pulled the trigger and fired off into the air. Everyone flinched and ducked down to avoid the sudden fire, ceasing their fight. Ruby may be short, but her scythe was one hell of a deterrent to fighting. 

But before she could start yelling at them to stop fighting, the silence was filled with the eerily familiar sound of a flute. Everyone began to look at each other and around them, looking for the source of what had been keeping them up for the last week. Suddenly, the clouds of the shattered moon parted and it brought a bright silver glow over the town. The flute playing grew louder, drawing Ruby's attention to the forested area that was nearby. Perched on a large rock, Ruby finally saw what had been keeping everyone up at night. 

It stood on two legs that ended with hooves. Its body was short and had two arms that were covered in black fur, it's chest was bare of hair but had an exposed ribcage that was stark white. It had two horns on its head that reached to the sky. Its face was hidden behind a large, white mask with red, intricate lines; or maybe the mask was its face. A stark white mask with a very long nose, along the nose was a series of holes that the creature played from. Its fingers danced along the length, creating the terrifying melody that filled the area at night. 

Reaching into the deepest pits of her mind, Ruby remembered reading about this creature of Grimm from the textbook for Professor Port's class. That Grimm was called a Reveler, and from what she remembered, it was a very dangerous Grimm; but not for its veracity or strength in a fight, but for something else. It danced on its rock, the clicks from the hooves adding to the song it played, serving to unnerve and draw out the fear in people the longer it played. Its glowing yellow eyes stared into Ruby's eyes and she felt her palms grow cold and sweaty despite the cold around them. 

It was then that Ruby remembered why Reveler's were so dangerous; the fact that they could call other Grimm in the surrounding area to them, and based on how many angry, hungry eyes she saw coming out from the black forest behind it, it had brought a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so late. I've been really busy since the holidays, wrapping up and starting the next part of Enemy as well as more than a few personal problems, but hopefully I'll have more chapters of everything.
> 
> A quick word from my wonderful Editor StreetAngelJ:" Sorry I’ve been taking so long to get these back out to you, the Holidays were pretty rough for me… But now I’m back to work and as fast as Angry Face can spit out new chapters, I’ll be trying to turn them around for release. Gonna get back to the ‘How Could You Be My Enemy’ redux chapters… Only 23 more to go..."
> 
> That being said, if you enjoyed, leave a Kudo! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and replying to them. This story is also posted on FF.net under the same name. So if you read over there, come show your support! I also have a Tumblr (AngryFaceWritings) Come say hi!
> 
> And as always, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of dork love.


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